Mechanical stoker.



W. P. STARKEY.

MECHANICAL STOKER.

APPLICATION FILED Nov.19. 190s.

1,077,494. Patented N014, 1913.

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W. P. STARKEY.

MLCHANIGAL STOKER.

APPLICATION FILED 11011.19, 1908. 1,077,494. Patented 111011.11913.

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9 W. P. STARKEY.

MECHANICAL STOKER, i APPLICATION FILED N0v.19, 1908.

1,077,494. Patented Nov.4,v1913.

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COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON, D. C.

W. P. STARKEY. MECHANICAL STOKBR.

APPLICATION FILED N0v.19. 1908.

Patented Nov. 4, 1913.

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W. P. STARKEY. MECHANICAL STOKBR. APPLICATION FILED Nov.19, 190s.

Patented Nov. 4, 1913.

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lr M UNITED STATES PATENT 0E). t

WILLIAM PAUL STARKEY, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THOMAS E. MARTIN, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

MECHANICAL STOKER.

Application iled November 19, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, l/VILLIAM P. STARKEY, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanical Stokers, of which the following is a speciication.

This invention relates to improvements in mechanical stokers and more particularly to that class of stokers which are provided with a revolving type of grate.

The objects of my invention are to devise a stoker in which the revolving rollers rotate varying amounts so that the roller nearest the feed hopper may revolve a greater amount than the one nearest the foot of the stoker, and also to provide other improvements which will be hereinafter noted.

The invention in its preferable embodiment consists of the construction hereinafter described and then claimed.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part hereof: Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of part of a furnace having my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an endelevation ofthe same, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, of one of the diagonally arranged side frames which support the various revolving grates. Fig. a is a vertical section through one of the ratchet drives. Fig. 5 is a sectional detail of part of the adjusting mechanism for the ratchet drives. Fig. G is a vertical section of two of the grate rollers showing the stationary grate bars in connection therewith. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of part of one of the grate rollers. Fig. 8 is a detail of one of the roller heads. Fig. 9 is a detail showing a section of the journaled support for the stationary grate bar and a top plan view of its journaled end. Fig. 10 is a sectional detail of one of the stationary grate bars.

Referring now to the details of the drawings by numerals: 1 designates a hopper which may be of any desirable shape and construct-ion into which the coal is fed and coacting with one side of which is a feed gate 3 adapted to be raised and lowered in any approved manner to fix the thickness of coal passed into the furnace, the same as in any ordinary stoker. At the lower end of the stoker I also employ an ash plate et piv- Specieaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 4t, 1913.

Serial No. 463,488.

otally supported at 5 and which is adapted to be opened and closed by means of the lever 6, the front end of which is provided with a handle 7 and is notched at 8 to coact with a hanger 9 so that the ash plate L1 may be adjusted to any desirable position; said ash plate discharging into a pit 10 under it and the rollers. Between the hopper 1 and the ash plate 4 are supported diagonally disposed side frames 12, one on each side of the furnace, and these two diagonally disposed side frames 12 support the revolving rollers 111, which, as illustrated in my drawings, I prefer to have siX in number. These rollers 1st are made up of a number of segments which in reality form disks, there being four segments to cornplete the circumference. These rollers will be hereinafter more particularly described in detail and it will now be sufficient to state that they are fastened to and revolve with a shaft 16 capable of rotation in bearings 17 of the aforesaid diagonally disposed side frames 12, it being understood that there is one shaft 16 for each set of the six sets of rollers. The aforesaid sir sets of revolving rollers 14 occupy substantially all the space between the hopper 1 and the ash plate t except for the small spaces between the various sets of rollers, and these spaces lare filled by means of non-rotatable grate bars 18 of the particular shape shown in Fig. 6. These grate bars 18 are secured to supports 19 which supports are journaled or trunnioned in U-shaped hangers 2() shown in Fig. 3; and the suppo-rts 19 are counterbalanced by means of a weighted lever 21 which causes l(he grate bars 18 and their supports 19 to move on their journals or trunnions 22 so that the point of the grate bars 18 will hug the sections of the rollers 14 as clearly indicated in Fig. 6. It will be observed that the non-rotatable grate bars 18 have suitable spaces formed in them in which water may be circulated in any desirable way to prevent them from burning and the rollers 14 are also formed in a particular way to prevent burning and this construction will now be described. Each of the six rollers is formed of a series of heads 23 and each pair of these heads is connected by a series of rods 24 and on each of these rods is a series of preferably six segments 25 pivotally secured to the rods and spaced apart by means of separators 26.

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The aforesaid segments 25 are pivotally secured on the rods 24 so that when the rollers are in position the various segments will assume the positions shown in Fig. 6 Wherein it will be observed that the lovvest sections7 after passing the non-rotatable grate bars 1S, are permitted to drop by gravity thus making an opening at the bottom of the roller which makes it possible for the roller to clean itself since the ashes or fine particles Which find their Way between the segments of the rollers are permitted to fall out of the opening formed by the dropping down of the grate segments as shown in said Fig. 6. llloreover, since the rods 2l are held in position by means of a cotter as 27 it Will be observed that any of the segments ina be removed by taking out the Cotter and siding the proper rod 2e, this being permitted by moving the next segments upward so as to allow of the rod 2li being moved longitudinally out of its bearings and its segments.

Referring now once more to the non-rotatable grate bars 18 it will be observed that these are slantingly disposed so as to pass the fuel from a high point on one roller to a lower point on the succeeding roller, the fuel thus being assisted in its passage frein o-ne roller to the other.

Each of the aforesaid shafts 1S, to which the aforesaid rollers lil are secured, has secured to one of its ends a ratchetivheel l5 which is keyed to the said shaft. ln order to give these ratchet Wheels inoveinent, and therefore impart rotary movement to the revolving rollers lil, l employ cranks 2G and Q8 which receive an oscillatingmotion from any exterior source of pouver (not shown) and to the crank Q8 are connected tivo bars 30 and between these bars are pivoted a series of pawls 32, there being one pavvl for each ratchet Wheel, and the pavvls are provided with Weighted tails which, by gravity, keep the parvis in contact with the wheels. lt follows from this construction that when the cranks 26 and 28 are oscillated, the bars 30 are given a reciprocating motion in such a manner that when the bars 30 are moved to the left as shown in lF 5, the paivls engage and rotate said ratchet wheels l5 and therefore rotate the revolving rollers and when the rods 30 are reciprocated in a reverse direction the pavvls slip over the ratchet teeth in a manner ivell understood. F or a purpose to be hereinafter described, I prefer to give these ratchet Wheels differential. movement in order to give the rollers different amounts of rotation. To this end I arrange a curved plate 38 in close proximity to each ratchet Wheel, this curved plate 38 being held between tivo c: stings Al() and 4 1 arranged on opposite sides of the ratchet Wheel. Each pair of castings 4-0 and 4l contains a pair of grooves l2 ties between these two speeds. the attendant adjusts the levers it@ so that .the curved plate of the ratchet Wheel within Which Works a pin 44 and the pin of each ratchet wheel is connected to a separate lever flG. There are, therefore, sinY levers as shown in Fig. 4 and each of these levers 4G has a handle '-l-'Z' and teeth e8, the latter engaging with a holding plate or catch 50, shown in Fig. 5. The construction is such that when the levers 1G are moved by an operator atching hold of the handle t? and givingl any one of said levers LG reciprocating movement, one set of the castings et@ and el receives oscillating movement on its shaft 1G and this oscillation course moves to a small extent the curved plate 23S. lnasmuch as each of the six levers may be moved independently of the others, it follows that each set of the castings i0 and il and each of the curved plates 38 may thus be adjusted indepenoently of the others. The purpose of this is to adjust the curved plates 38 with respect to the paivls lit is my purpose to provide a differential feed and to do so l prefer to adjust the ratchet vdrives so as to, for example, give onetvvelfth of a revolution per minute to the roller nearest the hopper l and to give to the roller nearest the ash plate one one-hun- .dred-and-tvventieth revolution per minute and to have the others operating at velocirherei''ore nearest the hopper l ,vill expose a larger' number of teeth to the action of its paivl 32 than the others. The appropriate lever 45 for the second ra tch t theel Ywill he adjusted so that its curved plate S8 'will expeiw7 say, one less tooth, and the other four levers i6 are also adjusted so as to respectively eX- pose, say7 one less tooth of each ratchet wheel.7 so that the last ratchet wheel, the one nearest the ash plate .vill revolve a smaller distance than the roller nearest the hopper l.

rl"he operation of my stokef is as 7follows: Coal is fed into the hopper l. and as the rollers revolve7 the coal is carried over the first roller and slides down over the slanting stationary grate lt?. to the second set of rollers and on down over the sin of rollers until it passes over the last one where it is deposited on the ash plate it or fed through between the last roller and said ash plate l into the ash pit l() below. ly means of the adjustable ratchet drive, l propose to rotate the first roller7 say, onetWelfth of a revolution per ni'iiute and the last roller at one one-hundred-and-txventieth revolution per minute or one revolution in two hours. My purpose is to pass the coal over the first roller approximately three inches thick and by the time it reaches the sixth roller the ashes ivill be appr xiniately 8 to 10 inches thick and the depth of the bed in between these rollers will vary from three inches at the top to about lO'Iinches at the bottom. Thevariaticn of the speed of the stoker from one-twelfth of a revolution per minute' to one one-hundred-andtwentieth revolution per minute is a feature I consider of great importance.

Another feature I consider of importance is the arrangement hereinbefore described of the last roller of the series of rollers" 14 and the ash plate l pivotally supported adjacent to said roller. The revolving roller working in connection with said ash plate Vmakes an excellent comb-ination since t-he ash plate may be set at the proper position to deliver the ashes continuously thus doing away with the dumping idea which prevails in many stokers causing a` loss of coke into the ash pit and a land slide of coal on the fall, thereby decreasing the efficiency of the Stoker.

From the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that I'have invented a mechanical stoker of the roller type which may be given a differential feed under the easy control of an attendant. It is obvious that modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth by the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. In a device of the character described, a. series of rotatable cylindrical grates, means for supporting said grates alongside of each other, means common to all of said grates for rotating the same, said means comprising ratchet wheels and pawls engaging said wheels, and independently adjustable means for varying the duration of the engagement of each pawl with its respective ratchet wheel, whereby each pawl turns its ratchet wheel farther than the nextY succeeding pawl turns its ratchet wheel, substantially as described.

2. In a fuel feeding grate, the combination of a series of fuel supporting members, cylindrical in shape and extending across the furnace, said members having substantially the same diameter and each having fuel supporting surfaces and ash discharge and air supply openings, and means common to all of said grate members for rotating the same, said means adapted to so rotate the grate members as to produce a gradually decreasing feeding action upon the fuel from the front to the rear of the grate, substantially as described.

E3. In a fuel feeding grate, the combination of a series of transversely arranged cylindrical grate members, non-rotatable grate bars arranged between the said grate members, said bars adapted to feed fuel from a. high point on one adjacent grate member to a relatively low point on the next succeeding grate member, and means for rotating the cylindrical members to progressively feed the fuel from the front to the rear of the grate, substantially as described.

4. In a device of the character described, a series of rotary grates, a ratchet wheel for each grate, a pawl carrier adapted to co-act vwith said ratchet wheels to rotate said wheels and their gratos, and a curved shield or plate for each ratchet wheel, said curved shields being independently adjustable to control the amount of rotation of the same, substantially as described.

5. In a device of the character described, a series of rotary grates, a ratchet wheel for each grate, a pawl carrier having pawls coacting with said ratchet wheels to rotate said wheels and their grat/es, a curved shield or plate for each ratchet wheel, said shields being independently adjustable to control the amount of rotation ofthe ratchet wheels, and a series of levers for controlling the position of said curved shields or plates, substantially as described.

G. In a device of the character described, a series of rot-ary grates, a shaft for each grate, a ratchet wheel for each shaft, a pawl for each ratchet wheel, and a curved plate or shield for each ratchet wheel adapted to be rotated between said pawl and said ratchet wheel, each curved plate or shield being independently adjustable, and a lever for operating each curved plate or shield, said pawl and ratchet mechanisms being connected to operate in unison whereby the movement of each grate may be independently adj usted, substantially as described.

7. In a device of the character described, a series of rotary grates, a ratchet wheel for each grate, a pawl for each ratchet wheel, a pair of side members carrying a curved shield or guide adjacent to each ratchet wheel, each curved shield or guide being independently adjustable, and a lever for operating said sidel members, said pawl and ratchet mechanisms being connected to operate in unison whereby the movement of each grate may be independently adjusted, substantially as described.

8. In a device of the character described, a series of rotary grates, a ratchet wheel for each grate, a pawl carrier having a series of pawls co-acting with said ratchet wheels, means for giving said pawl carrier recip-roeating movement, and curved plates or shields located adjacent to said ratchet wheels and` said pawls, and levers for independently adjusting said curved plates or shields, substantially as described.

9. In a device of the character described, a. series of4 rotary cylindrical grates, and a series of non-rotatable grate bars interposed between said cylindrical grates, said nonrotatable grate bars being journaled or trunnioned and feeding the fuel from a high point on one adjacent cylindrical grate to a relatively low point on the next succeedingv cylindrical grate, the fuel being fed progressively from the front to the rear of the grate, substantially as described.

l0. In a device of the character described, a series of rotatable cylindrical grates, and a series of non-rotatable grate bars interposed between said cylindrical grates, said non-rotatable grate bars being journaled or trunnioned and feeding the fuel from a high point on one adjacent cylindrical grate to a relatively low point on the next succeeding cylindrical grate, means for counter-balancing said slanting grates to position them with respect vto said cylindrical grates, and means for rotating the cylindrical members to progressively feed the fuel from the front to the rear of the grates, substantially as described.

ll. In a device of the character described, a feed hopper, an ash gate, a series of rotary grates arranged between said' hopper and said ash gate, a. ratchet wheel for rotating each of said grates, pawls co-acting with said ratchet wheels, curved plates or shields coacting with said ratchet wheels, and independently movable levers for controlling the positions of said curved' plates or shields, said pawl and ratchet mechanisms being connected to operate ini unison with respect to said shields, whereby the movement of each grate may be independentlyy adjusted, substantially as described.

l2. In a device of the character described, a roller grate comprising a body portion and a series ofv segmental sections pivotally mounted to form a roller, said sections dropping by gravity as the sections reach the bottom, substantially as described.

13. In a device of the character described,

a roller grate comprising a body portion and a series of segmental sections pivotally mounted to form a roller, said sections dropping by gravity as the sections reach the bot-3` tom and said sections beinostavoferedwith 3 b bb relation'to each other, vsubstantially as described.

14,. In a device of the character described,`

a. roller kgrate comprising a shaft, heads secured thereto, bars connecting said heads, and segmental sections pivotally supported by said bars and formingthe periphery of the roller, each section dropping by gravityT as it reaches the bottom, substantially as described. A

l5. In a device of the character described, a roller grate comprising a shaft, heads secured thereto, bars connecting said heads,

and segmental sections pivota-lly supported` by said bars and forming the periphery of the roller, each section dropping by gravity as it reaches the bottom, said bars and said sections being staggered with relation to each other, substantially as described.

1G. A horizontal rotary grate member cylindrical in shape comprising a series of VILLIAM PAUL STARKEY.

Vitnesses z R. P. THATCHER, L. ENSINGER.

Copes of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

